*)))
I'm at the Syrup Room, this illegal venue in an industrial section of Brooklyn. First I'm one of the only people there - bands haven't shown up, just the people running the bar & sound system. A few people slowly show up and it seems like it will be a quiet night. The first anonymous, amateur act plays (with a little passion and some beats/effects) . . . then more hip-hop tracks. Then suddenly, the crowd just pours in and Lexie Mountain, a neato voice/tapes solo, rocks everyone. Blah Blah. Some improv rap/synth duo. Some spacey/freakout jam band. Then the Slits, that re-formed 70s riotpunk/reggae group. So it turns out a show by the same promoter where the Slits were playing got shut down by the cops and so they moved the whole party over here. Hence people. Two songs into the Slits I'm feeling a little tired, so I go back into the sketchy neighbourhood to catch the L train -- but the L train is shut down!! The worker tells me to catch the Shuttle. A bus. I hop on the nearest bus and I ask if he's going to Manhattan: no, but I can catch a train at the end of his line (bwy junction). Somewhere along the way this cute person hops aboard, looking for a manhattan-bound bus. Not here. We drive to the end of the line, we get off, I walk towards the train station wondering what route I'll take ... this person walks quickly away from the station, and so I follow, then get onto another bus -- this one supposedly going to Manhattan. Woot. We travel for a while, then the bus driver stops and tells everyone to get off. We're like, "huh?" but he's seriously not going any further. Slowly we amble off, someone asks WHY this is happening and he says that it was because someone was eating and he could smell it. OK! Another bus comes. I get off at the same stop at this person I've been following, she goes down the street, I try the subway station but Dang! L -line, closed 'til monday. I think think and then go for a taxi. Easy street. Blah blah. Well I saw the legendary Slits anyway.